Several techniques are known for cutting up soft texture layers, in particular fibrous layers for obtaining preforms in the manufacture of composite parts.
For thin sheets (about 1 mm thick) such as laminated cloth made of carbon, silicon carbide, or Kevlar fibers, various techniques are used without difficulty, and according to circumstances these techniques may be stamping, laser cutting, ultrasound, or high pressure water jet.
Difficulties appear when the thickness of the layer increases to reach a few cm. Laser cutting gives rise to considerable heating with the risk of oxidizing the material constituting the layer being cut up; a water jet with a conventional nozzle ceases to be effective; and punching suffers from the drawback of deforming the layer by crushing it under the compression effect that precedes the cutting process per se and also of requiring the tooling to be sharpened regularly.
For cutting up thick layers (more than 2 cm or 3 cm thick), e.g. carbon felts, it is the practice to use diamond wire or tape saws.
The object of the invention is to enable layers of medium or high thickness to be cut up using a high pressure water jet.